554 MAN: PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



or the Galchic branch of the family. Both Iranic and Galchic are 

 thus rather linguistic than ethnic terms, and so true is this that a 

 philologist always knows what is meant by an Iranic language, 

 while the anthropologist is unable to define or form any clear 

 conception of an Iranian, who may be either a long-headed Aryan 

 or a round-headed Alpine. Here confusion may be avoided by 

 reserving the historic name of PERSIAN for the former, and com- 

 prising all the Alpines under the also time-honoured though less 

 known name of TAJIKS. 



Khanikoff has shown that these Tajiks constitute the primitive 



element in ancient Iran. To the true Persians 



of the west, as well as to the kindred Afghans 



in the east, both of dolicho type, the term is rarely applied. 



But almost everywhere the sedentary and agricultural aborigines 



are called Tajiks, and are spoken of as Parsivdn, that is, Parsi- 



zabdn 1 , "of Persian speech," or else Dihkdn*, that is, "Peasants," 



all being mainly husbandmen " of Persian race and tongue 3 ." 



They form endless tribal, or at least social, groups, who keep 



somewhat aloof from their proto-Aryan conquerors, so that, in 



the east especially, the ethnic fusion is far from complete, the 



various sections of the community being still rather juxtaposed 



than fused in a single nationality. When to these primeval 



differences is added the tribal system still surviving in full vigour 



amongst the intruding Afghans themselves, we see 



Afghans. ..... . - . r , 



how impossible it is yet to speak of an Afghan 

 nation, but only of heterogeneous masses loosely held together 

 by the paramount tribe at present the Durani of Kabul. 



The Tajiks are first mentioned by Herodotus, whose Dadikes* 

 are identified by Hammer and Khanikoff with them 5 . They are 



cutting but always breaking their bread, the use of the knife being sure to raise 

 the price of flour. 



1 Zabdn, tongue, language. 



2 Di/i, deh, village. 



3 H. Walter, From Indus to Tigris, p. 16. Of course this traveller refers 

 only to the Tajiks of the plateau (Persia, Afghanistan). Of the Galchic Tajiks 

 he knew nothing; nor indeed is the distinction even yet quite understood by 

 European ethnologists. 



4 in. 91. 



5 Even Ptolemy's Tracrtxat appear to be the same people, TT being an error 



